Games Inbox: No more sequels, Pokémon X/Y graphics, and Project Wildman

Today’s morning Inbox wants an explanation for why there are so many bugs in games, as yet another reader heaps praise on Far Cry 3.

Please note: we are currently collating votes for the Reader’s Top 20 of 2012, so please send us a list of your top three games from last year to the email address below. The games must have been newly released in the UK at some point during 2012, but that’s the only restriction on your choices. We’ll announce the results on the weekend of February 2.

Forget everything
So I guess it’s pretty much looking like a certainty that we’re going to see both the Xbox 720 and PlayStation 4 this year, even if they’re not actually released until next year. I guess both companies have forgotten their 10 year console pledges but given all this news about how game sales are slipping and the number of new games is falling I think it’s best for everyone that we get the new hardware out there as soon as possible.

The games industry is starting to look tired and out of ideas. If I was in charge of either of the companies (or Nintendo) I’d say no sequels for the first year. Everything else has to be new. Maybe you can have a new Halo or something in a year or two but no more relying on games we’ve seen five or six times already.

I’m sure it won’t happen in quite that way but I am hopefully that something like it will come true because the one way to ruin the next gen right from the start is to have games that look like they could be run on the old formats. Not necessarily in terms of the graphics but the style of play and the levels. That’s where Nintendo went wrong with the Wii U I think: too much reliant on the past.Shockers

No evolution?
Is anyone else really disappointed by the Pokémon X/Y trailer? The battles look okay, just like Pokémon Stadium has always been really, but the outside graphics are absolutely terrible. Seriously, this looks like sub-DS style stuff. This is a console that’s almost as powerful as a Wii and can do games as amazing looking as Resident Evil Revelation and Monster Hunter 3 Ultimate. So why does Nintendo’s most important portable series look like some cheap indie game?

I just don’t understand Nintendo, I guess no one does. They make all this money but where does it go? Why can they only produce three or four proper games a year and why do half the ones they do look like they’re a decade? Sometimes I almost wish they’d start making bad games so I can ignore them forever…Barry Hooper

Then and now
I’ve been gaming for 30 years now, since the Atari days, and if there’s one thing that bothers me about gaming nowadays is the amount of bugs and glitches we find in our games, Especially after we’ve forked out £40 on what we thought was a complete and finished article.

Also, the constant updating and patches from day one peeves me as well. I don’t remember all these problems in the cartridges days. In fact I own over a hundred cartridges from consoles past and I don’t remember once coming across a bug or a glitch. So why do we get so many now? Is it because games are so technical now, is it the format they’re on (DVD, Blu-ray) or is it lazy programming? Maybe it’s something else! Could GC enlighten us with their knowledge please. Thank you.UrbanSpacey

GC: Games are vastly more complex now than in the Atari days and the task of discovering and fixing bugs almost infinitely more difficult. That said there’s no question that the ability to patch games is being used as a crutch, and some games are being knowingly released with bugs just to meet release dates.

A better idea
Watched the Microsoft IllumiRoom demo and it wasn’t as inspiring as I expected. True, having the game world expand beyond your TV screen is quite cool but it raises a few questions. Like with 3D, how much off the consoles processing power is going to need to be saved to create all that extra screen? If I don’t have it turned on am I going to be at a significant disadvantage with first person shooters and the like, in the sense that I have decreased peripheral vision? Like the 3D effect on my 3DS is it going to be awesome when I concentrate on it but become often completely unnoticeable and almost redundant when I’m fully immersed in the game itself?

When I heard about it I had a much more imaginative idea of what it would be used for. I’m intrigued by all this second screen technology, i.e. having your inventory, map or certain controls mapped to you smartphone/tablet so why not use IlumiRoom to this effect? Just project certain bits of information or controls onto certain real room objects.

A clock in close proximity to you TV could become your speedometer or radar. A file on a shelf next to your console could become your energy bar. You approach a door with a security keypad and the keypad could appear on the coffee table in front of you, Kinect could then detect your fingers pressing the buttons and it would be just like having multiple second screens at once.

It would even be great with more Kinect-based party games, having objects appear around a room with players rushing to press/grab them. A cheering crowd surrounding you in music or sports games, reacting accordingly to your performance.

I’d be very disappointed if it was just used for atmospheric visual effects and not actual gameplay mechanics.PjDonnelli

Goldilocks marketing
RE: Grackle – I think one reason why Nintendo (and, to be honest, most games companies) don’t announce games publicly until they are close to release is hype. If they announce a game too early, people will get excited initially, but then the feeling will dissipate over time (perhaps enhanced by continual naysaying by other people).

If a game is announced much closer to release, then customer excitement will be higher than otherwise. They also probably don’t want to detract from the Pokémon X/Y announcement. I imagine there will be Wii U announcements at E3 and the Tokyo Game Show.Joseph Dowland

GC: Most games companies don’t announce games until they’re close to release? Major games are generally announced one, two or even three years in advance, with multiple preview events and trailers released at regular intervals. That may be overkill but Nintendo’s attitude towards the Wii U goes too far in the other direction.

Abandon hope?
So does GC think the Japanese role-player is going to have a better time of it in the new generation compared to this? There were some good games in the last few years but so few of them compared to the PlayStation 2 era that it’s almost like they’ve gone extinct. The worse thing is that the ones that do still come out are so desperate to appeal to Western gamers that they’re no longer like anything fans actually like any more.

Final Fantasy XIII-3, or whatever it’s called, just looks awful. A terrible character in a game that doesn’t seem to bear any resemblance to the series I used to love. But does that means that’s it? Is the only way down from here?Graham Hill

GC: Most hope for the genre will be on whatever format is currently most popular in Japan. At the moment that’s the 3DS by a considerable margin, but even there the number of role-players is surprisingly low. But that may change over the course of the year, now that the scale of the 3DS’s success is clear.

Dungeon Commander
I figure some fans of Dungeon Siege and Supreme Commander might be interested in this new Kickstarter. It’s from Gas Powered Games that did both games, although robot fans might be a bit upset to find out it leans much more on the Dungeon Siege side of things. It basically seems to be their take on Diablo, which obviously isn’t super original but the artwork looks good and I think all Chris Taylor’s games have been interesting so far.

$1.1 million seems an awful lot of money though, so I don’t know exactly how many fans he’s got willing to put up their cash. I’ve given $20 though, they can have that.Franky

Another new fan
I just got the excellent Far Cry 3 and it is even better than I thought it would be from reading all the praise on these pages. Rook Island is a beautiful playground that begs to be explored. Vaas is a truly excellent villain and his insane rants are a joy to watch. Jason makes for a great unlikely hero and the story in which Jason changes and adapts to go from an everyman to a warrior to rescue his younger brother and friends and take revenge on Vaas and his band of pirates for killing his older brother Grant.

But it’s the freedom to explore the island and play however you want that excels Far Cry 3 above other first person shooters and open world action games. The animals are beautifully created and act so realistically to real living creatures that makes their inclusion far more than eye candy. I too jumped out of my seat when a crocodile attacked me in the water! I was so shocked I missed the prompt to mash the ‘B’ button to escape. I can’t wait to see the bears and tigers, though I’ll keep my distance!

Then there is the vehicles, each one are an absolute joy to drive. Far Cry 2 had great driving too, it was just a pain to have to keep looking at the map on your PDA. Far Cry 3 ditches this for a standard minimap in the bottom left of the screen which is far less intrusive. Random attacks by pirates interrupt your leisurely drive and chase you through the jungle which is great fun too. Jet skis need to be used more in games there amazing fun! I haven’t found a hang-glider yet but intend on making that a priority on my next visit to Rook Island.

Yep, Far Cry 3 is by far the best game of 2012 and the best, most immersive experience since Red Dead Redemption. A masterpiece.Big Angry Dad82 (gamertag)

My RSS feeds seem to have stopped as of the middle of last week – is it my reader or are they currently down? I’m using the feed reader built in to Outlook 2010. Also, I’m having trouble reading articles on my PS Vita – I have to switch off Javascript once pages have loaded or it reloads the metro Games home page after about 10 seconds. Again, me or site issues?AbominableSloth (gamertag /PSN ID)

GC: The RSS feed is fine for us, can you try it on Internet Explorer if you’re having problems? We couldn’t find any problem on the PS Vita either.

This week’s Hot Topic
The discussion point for this weekend’s Inbox is inspired by the news that, after 12 years, Sony has finally stopped making the PlayStation 2. Given that means that it’s now officially a retro console we want to hear about your experiences and memories of the format.

Do you think the PlayStation 2 deserves to be the best-selling home console of all time and why do you think it dominated its rivals (the GameCube and Xbox) so much more decisively than other generations? When did you first buy a PlayStation 2 and what tempted you to do so? And if you never owned one, why not?

What were your favourite games on the PlayStation 2 and what do you think were the biggest successes and failings of its software line-up? How much did its other features, such as being a DVD player, factor into its success and how do you think it’ll be remembered in another 12 years?